Briquetting fuel material



Patented June 9, 1931 UNITED STATESJPATENT OFFICE ARTHUR LITTLE, OF .BROOKLINE, MASSACHUSETTS, ABSIGNOB TO ARTHUR D.

LITTLE, INCORPORATED, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS,

MASSACHUSETTS 11o Drawing.

My invention relates to the comminuted fuel materials, of which coal fines furnish a cons icuous instance, and presents the aspects 0 process and the prodact thereof. The principal" objects of this invention are: the use of a binding adhesive material for the fines which is soluble or extensible in water and requires only e'vapora- I tion of water into which it is mixed, to be'- come effective, so that elimination of the liquid vehicle may not involve either waste, or the cost of recover of more costly li uid,

or any chemical or t ermal treatment; w 'ch,

in its final state in the briquette shall be is practically weatherproof and waterproof,

so that the briquettes maybe stored in the open without danger of disintegration; and

which, when the briquette is burned. as fuel will itself burn without smoke or appreciae 5:0 ble ash; and which shall be of low cost to produce in the first instance.

I have discovered that a water-miscible colloidal cellulose, which on elimination of its water-vehicle to a critical content becomes irreversible, constitutes a binder for fuel-fines which produces a briquette having all the objective desiderata above mentioned. Colloidal cellulose is recognized in the art as being a form of that type roduct' designated b the term cellulose ydrate which term inc udes the various types'of gelatinized or swollen.cellulose all of which exhibit similar physical properties and have the same empirical composition as cellulose. It'

- is well-known to those skilled in the art that cellulose hydrate may be formed either by the action of concentrated acids, alkalies, or salts on cellulose, or by a severe mechanical treatment of cellulose in the presence of wa- 40 ter, sometimes referred to as dead beating,

both methods resulting in the destruction of the cellulose fiber and the production, in waterdispersion, of a elatinized mass which on the elimination of t e water to a critical con-' tent becomes irreversible or non-dispersable,

Application filed. June 14, briquetting of' a conrona'rron or nmonnr'rmo rum.- mmm 1988.. Serial 1W0. 285,502.

The readiest and most economical mode. known to me of producing such'a colloidal cellulose is to take fibrous cellulose in the form of wood pulp, bagasse, old papers, etc.,

material is preferably'washed to reduce the ash-content, and is ground to produce a fairly uniform comminution. The washed and ground fuel material fines are then intimately mixed with a suspension of the colloidal cellulose in-water, the resulting gasty or plastic mass formed into briquettes y any of the known mechanical apparatus and methods,

- preferably b extrusion into rod-form and cutting into ri uettes with the usual wire- Wheel. I have 0 tained good results by mixing anthracite fines, 100 parts, water 92 parts, colloidal cellulose in suspension in the water 8 arts. y

. riquettes formed of this composition need only to be air dried." The reduction of the water by evaporation pro 'essivelyconcen-' trates the cellulose until t e latter reverses phase and assumes an irreversible conditiong 1ts adhesive and b1nd1ng properties become more andmore pronounced and in thefinal condition are such as: to integrate the briquette into a strongly consistent mass,

amply resistant to fracture for'all ordinary conditions of handling. The cellulose being irreversible is indifferent to waterand weather, so that briquettes thus prepared can be stored in the openwithout liability todisintegration. The colloidal cellulose binderv burns without smoke, so that briquettes made with it are not mor e smoky as fuel than the water to a content mass of coal fines with cellulose hydrate dispersed in an excess of water, forming briquettesof said mass, and evaporating the productive of irreversibility in the cellulose.

2. That method ofbriquetting fuel fines which is characterized by making a plastic mass of fuel fines with cellulose hydrate disrsed in an excess of water, forming riquettes of said mass, and evaporating the water to a content productive of irreversibility in the cellulose. v

3. That method of briquetting coal fines 9. Briquette, comprising coal fines adhesively bound by inter-mixture of a colloidal cellulose in substantially dry condition and non-dispersible in water.

10. Briquette, comprising fuel fines adhesively bound by intermixture of a colloidal cellulose in substantially dry condition and non-dispersible in water.

.Signed by me at Cambridge, Massachusetts this 12th day of June 1928. Y ARTHUR D; LITTLE.

which is characterized by making a plastic mass of coal fines with a colloidal cellulose dispersed in an excess of water, forming briquettes of said mass and evaporating the water to a content productive of irreversiv bility in the cellulose.

4. That method of briquetting fuel fines which is characterized by making a plastic mass of fu l fines with a colloidal cellulose dispersed in an excess of water, forming briquettes of said mass and evaporating the water to a content productive of irreversibility in the cellulose. a

5. That method of briquetting coal fines which is characterized by making a plastic mass of coal fines witha colloid inherently capable of assuming an irreversible condition on elimination of water dispersion, dispersed in an excess of H water, forming riquettes of said mass and evaporating the water to a content bility in said colloi 6. That method of briquetting fuel fines which is characterized by making a plastic mass of fuel fines with a colloid inherently capable of assuming an irreversible condition on elimination of water dispersion, disgersed in an excess of water, forming riquettes of said 'mass and evaporating the water to a content productive of irreversibilhesively hydrate in substantially dry condition and g hydrate in substantially ity in said colloid.

.7. Bri uette, comprising coal fines adbound by intermixture of cellulose non-dispensible in water.

I 8. Bri uette, comprising fuelfines .adhesively un'd by inte'rmixture of cellulose dry condition and non-dispersible'in water. v

(productive of irreversi- 

